The Nets’ 2017-18 regular season schedule is out, with Brooklyn tipping off Oct. 18 at Indiana and playing their home opener two days later against Orlando. But there are far juicier games on the docket, with both fans and players alike surely circling dates with Los Angeles and in Mexico.
The Nets hosts the Warriors on Nov. 19 and the Cavaliers on Oct. 25 and March 25, although it’s unknown if Kyrie Irving will be with them. They’ll play at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico against Oklahoma City on Dec. 7 and then against Miami two days later (6pm, NBA TV). But even that novelty won’t top their meetings with the Lakers, which are likely to be more melodramatic than a Telemundo telenovela.
Old faces in new places
Friday Nov. 3 at the Lakers. It’s not just the start of a season-long five-game road trip. It’ll be the Nets’ first meeting with Brook Lopez — their all-time scorer and former face of the franchise — since they dealt him for D’Angelo Russell just before the draft. It will also be Russell’s first return to L.A. since Lakers president Magic Johnson slandered him on the way out the door.
��He has the talent to be an All-Star. We want to thank him for what he did for us. But what I needed was a leader,’’ Johnson said. “I needed somebody also that can make the other players better and also [somebody] that players want to play with.”
Even Russell candidly admits it’s “not just another game.”
The North remembers
Friday Dec. 15 at Toronto. Offseason acquisition DeMarre Carroll caused a stir when he said there was discord among the Raptors between factions that wanted to play team basketball and those insisting on isolation play. Naturally the comments didn’t go over well (nor did Carroll’s two seasons of subpar play for nearly $30 million), and this will be his first trip back since.
No more circus trip
With the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus finally shutting down after almost 150 years, the Nets won’t be sent on their usual eight- or nine-game post-All Star break sojourn. But it doesn’t mean the schedule is easy. They’ve got a five-game swing from Feb. 27 through March 8 that includes the winners of the last three NBA championships, Cleveland on Feb. 27 and Golden State on March 6. And playing in Atlanta Dec. 4 before the Mexico trip will make for a 5,000-mile trek.